Stocks jump on first trading day of 2009

SHANGHAI: The mainland stock market began the New Year with a broad rally yesterday, led by the policy-driven auto and steel sectors and a rebound on bourses across the world.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.29 percent, or 59.91 points, to end at 1880.72 on the first trading day of 2009 after eight straight days of losses. The rise in stocks was almost overall, with advancing stocks outnumbering losers 864:33.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index rose 2.3 percent to 6634.88 points. And the combined turnover on the two bourses reached 70.4 billion yuan ($10.29 billion), up 30.6 percent over the last trading day on Dec 31.